( ^97 ) 
Thumb am % Aug.iz, 167$, 
SIR, 
Hough I am in daily expe&ation of fbme of the 
fore this Letter reach you, yet I thought it not conve- 
nient any longer to deter the Account I received thereof 
from a Gentleman concerned in the Work, for fear fome 
of the Circumftances ftiould flip out of my Memory. 
The Oar is got in FourneJJe (a divifion of Lancajhire) 
at leaft 1 j Miles from Milthrop. Some of it is hard, 
but feels foft and fmooth on the out-fide like Velvet, 
Some is foft as Clay, but all is red, and lies in Beds 
like Coal. 
The Furnace in which it is melted is not above a yard 
and \ over, and about the fame height. The Hearth is all 
of Sow- Iron, much of the Shape of a broad-brim'd Hat 
with the Crown downwards. The Sides are of Stone, 
arched towards the top; in the midft is a Tunnel at 
which they put in Charcoal, on which when it is 
killed, they put Oar (firft broken into pieces as big 
as a Pigeons Egg) (b much as they intend to mek 
down. 
Then they fet their Bellows on work, which are mo- 
ved with Water, and go into the midft of the Furnace* 
Wall, and keep blowing for fome ix hours, feeding it 
ftill with new Charcoal as it fettles. 
Then they pull out a Stopple at the bottom of the 
Wall, and out comes all the Glaffie-Cinder being very li* 
quid, leaving the Iron in a Lump (for it does not flow) 
in that Conical Hole in the midft of the Hearth. 
This they take out with great Tongs and put under 
heavy Hammars (played alfo with Water) whereby 
after (everal Heatings (in the fame Furnace where it is 
melted) it is beaten into Barrs. They get about an 
U 
Hundred 
